New car registrations UP again in July – but the rise is slowing

New car registrations in the UK rose again in July – up 3.2 per cent on July 2014 to 178,420 – making it the 41st consecutive month of growth.

Low interest rates – and car manufacturer incentives – have been driving a rise in new car registrations for almost four years, and today’s figures for new car registrations in July 2015 tell the same story.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) are reporting new car registrations in July at 178,420 – arise of 3.2 per cent on the same period in 2014 – and registrations in the first seven months of 2015 at 1,555,309, a rise of 6.5 per cent on the same period in 2014.

What the sales figures also show is the changing market place, with much of the growth in the last decade in superminis, with a growth of 22.7 per cent, and in crossovers, a market that has grown by 88.5 per cent in the last ten years.

A look at the best-selling cars makes that clear, with the Ford Fiesta topping sales and the Nissan Qashqai taking fifth place.

But although the rise of new car registrations has been seemingly inexorable, that could be drawing to a close. The relatively modest rise last moth represents something of a slow-down in demand, and the threat of an interest rate hike could even put sales in to reverse.